


What the Well-Dressed Zombie is Wearing This Season

by TeaRoses



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily is just trying to live a normal life, which is a bit difficult when you aren't technically alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Well-Dressed Zombie is Wearing This Season

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astrokath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrokath/gifts).



> Many thanks to the beta who helped me make this ficlet sound more British. Any mistakes are definitely my own.

Lily never likes waking up. If she could have slept forever in her coffin like she was supposed to, she wouldn't be in this mess. But she swings her legs over the bed and contemplates the boring view from the window of her tiny flat. She hasn't woken up with any weird cravings this time, so she might as well go on with her life. Partial life. Whatever one wants to call it.

She puts in her contact lenses and applies her makeup very carefully. It's Afterlife brand -- their slogan is "Keep it a secret." 

There aren't many dresses to choose from in her closet. Lily grabs a white one at random and heads for the clinic.

It's a nondescript building, and one can enter through the back door, unseen. There's always a long line. It seems many people don't have family to help them with the injections. Did that many people die in London in 2009, Lily wonders, or is it just that the partially deceased are flocking here just as she did? 

The nurses stand there giving injection after injection. They seldom make conversation with their "patients" and Lily suspects they hate their jobs. NHS regulations state that a doctor must supervise every clinic, but Lily never sees one. She wonders if any PDS sufferers actually work as doctors or nurses. Probably not.

When she gets to work, someone asks if anyone wants coffee. Lily nods and he comes back with a mug for her. She sips it in front of her boss. There is a tube in her mouth that runs down her throat and out through a hole in her abdomen. A plastic pouch hangs there, and all the coffee goes into it instead of into her nonfunctional digestive system. A valve makes her capable of speech even with the tube in place. Unlike the injections, the NHS won't cover the installation of the tube, so she had to go private. There is a certain PDS specialist who advertises near the clinic. His slogan is "No one needs to know."

She sits in front of her computer and types. Her job is mind-numbingly boring but fortunately it also doesn't require any contact with the public. She knows she doesn't absolutely have to work, but she also knows that if she sits in a council flat all day doing nothing she'll go mad. 

It's supposed to be illegal for businesses to discriminate against the partially deceased, but the law is almost never enforced. It's because we can't vote, Lily thinks to herself. Maybe if the Partially Deceased Suffrage movement gets their way things will be better.

She stays late at work, and on the way out of the building she passes the cleaner. His name is Darren, and he's wearing makeup that obviously isn't Afterlife brand. He's a nice person, always helping out, but everyone in the office still refers to him as "The Rotter." It's amazing what people will say when they don't realize who is listening.

Darren puts his mop aside and looks at her. "What was it with you?" he asks very softly. She gives him a confused look.

"I don't think they know, but I do," he says. "I won't tell."

Lily looks around carefully and whispers "Aneurysm. You?"

"A pub fight."

Lily nods. "I'm sorry," is all she can think of to say. 

Darren gives her a sad little smile. "It's all right," he says. "You should see the other guy."


End file.
